under the immediate sanction of public authority, and are se lected from the united labours of a long established and enlightened body of practical and theoretical agriculturists, we have had occasion to complain of the introduction of much that is irrelevant and obsolete,-it would be unreasonable to expect, in the Memoirs of an infant and private society in a comparatively new country, a more systematic selection of interesting matter. We shall not therefore take any other notice of this obvious fault in the volume which has just reached our hands, than an occasional hint in enumerating the menoirs that are liable to such objections; and we shall proceed to specify the contents, leaving all other general remarks till they present themselves at the close of this article.

Though we have called the Philadelphia agricultural association an infant society, it appears by the preface that ‘it was formed in the year 1785, and continued to meet reguJarly for several years; and published numerous communications from practical men in the newspapers of the day." The society was, however, permitted to fall into a long sleep, but was again revived in the winter of 1804, and now holds regular meetings'. As it is chiefly from the result of their recent labours that these memoirs have arisen, they may fairly be considered as the transactions of an agritural society in one of its earliest stages.

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Some complaints are made of the backwardness of the American government in promoting the objects of the society, and of the neglect which has been shewn of a plan for establishing a state-society of agriculture in Pennsylvania, proposed by petition to the legislature in 1794. Public aid', it is said, has been so often sought in vain, that private exertions must be redoubled'; but it is not a promising onen of the interest excited by the labours of the society, that none of the premiums, either of those proposed in 1791, or of those proposed in 1806, appear to have been awarded, excepting one gold medal for the manufacture of five" hundred weight of cheese made on one farm within the United States. Lists of those premiums, of the members of the society, and of the meagre agricultural library they possess, together with the laws, the outline of the plan proposed to the legislature as mentioned above, and an introductory lecture to a course upon medicine, (treating of the duty and advantages of studying the diseases of domestic animals, and the remedies proper to remove them,) by Dr. Rush, form the preliminary contents.

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The first memoir is On Sheep, By John D. Steele, near Downing town, Chester, county, Pennsylvania; in which the

keeping of sheep is recommended to the American farmers, and the objections made against the practice are answered. The chief objection appears to be the danger they are exposed to, from the nocturnal depredations of dogs. This is a local, and probably only a temporary, evil. Nothing new, that is interesting to the English farmer, can be extracted either from this, or the following paper, II. On hoven cattle, by Richard Peters.

III. On rotting flax, by Joseph Cooper, of New Jersey. The same mode, which is in general use in Ireland, viz, to steep the flax only a short time (Mr. Cooper says two weeks, but we believe that from eight to ten days is the usual period employed in Ireland), and then to spread it out. thinly upon stubble, turning it occasionally till it is considered fit for skutching.-He was taught this mode about 18 years ago by a German servant, who reprobated the prac tice of leaving the flax in the water till it was sufficiently rotted.

IV. On peach-trees. By Joseph Cooper, of New Jersey. V. On ditto. By Richard Peters. These and other papers, relating to the cultivation of peach-trees on a large scale in orchards as a part of husbandry, being local to America, or rather to the southern and some of the middle states, and not offering any thing peculiarly interesting to European horticulturists, will not require further comment.

VI. On cutting off the Horns of bull Calves. By Paul Cooper, of Woodbury, New Jersey. The method is, when a calf is about a month old, and the horns have risen above the skin, to cut off the knobs close with a chisel, and with a sharp gouge pare them clean from the bone: then sear the wound, and fill it with sturgeon's oil, or hog's lard'. It is not stated that the horns will not grow after this operation, which, however, must be implied to constitute its utility; and as it may be doubted whether it can be done effectually without giving the animal much pain, it does not seem that the advantage of having hornless bulls is an adequate reason for the practice.

VII. Departure of the southern Timber, a Proof of the Tendency in Nature to a Change of Products on the sume Soil. By Richard Peters. By departure, Mr. Peters means deperishment; and in this and another memoir deduces, from the circumstance of pine timber having disappeared in some places, and being succeeded by timber of different descriptions, the hypothesis, that nature is continually changing her products and thus regularly effecting a rotation of crops of her own. From this he argues and advises a due change of crops in agriculture. The experience of the farmer, and the theory of the chemist, suffice to establish the in

dispensable expediency of a rotation which will draw in turn from the soil the various vegetable, pabula it contains, without recurring to the analogy of insulated facts in the grand economy of nature.

IX. On Smut in Wheat. By William Young, of Brandywine, Delaware. Remarks on ditto, by James Mease, M. D. X. Remarks on the Smut and Mildew of Wheat, by A. Fothergill, M. D. FR. S. &c. No new facts or arguments occur. in these papers, relative either to the latent origin of the smut, or the various means recommended for preventing it.

XI. Substitute for Trench ploughing, and a new Mode of putting in winter Grain, aad on live Fences. By Caleb Kirk, near York, Pennsylvania. The two implements, wooden cuts of which accompany this memoir, appear well adapted to be worked with ease, and to stir the ground to a great depth where it is not stony. Mr. Kirk's method of preparing his land for sowing deserves attention.

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I make about ten cuts in the breadth of a rod, not ploughing it in lands, but going along one side of the field, with one horse in the furrow, and returning on the same side of the land or field, with the off horse in the furrow, thus forming one ridge: then going with the near horse in the last made furrow, another ridge is formed, and so on till the field is ploughed. Thus every ridge or row will go from end to end of the field, which will seldom be the case if the field be marked out in lands, and then ploughed by going on one edge of the land and returning on the other, as there is often some small difference in the width of the land, near the finishing, which might make two furrows run into one, and not be so plain a guide to the reapers: and as the shovel plough throws the mould on both sides alike, the ridges will be as fair one way as the other. The cuts or furrows will appear about six or eight inches deep, with a sharp ridge between them. I then sow broad cast, and harrow in the direction of the furrows. Grain sown in this manner has many advantages. The plants stand handsomely in rows, which are a sufficient guide to the reapers, and for sowing clover seed or gypsum and the whole field being in one entire land, there is less ground lost; the ground moreover is less liable to wash, and the surface is handsomer for mowing than in the common way. A little fine mould generally rolls into the furrow behind the shovel which makes an excellent bed for the grains of wheat to push out their roots in, and the harrow, resting on the ridges, levels them, and throws a proper portion of mould on the grain, nearly as light as if it were riddled. Thus the ground is levelled, but the soil being lighter in the rows where the seed lies, it will settle a little, and the plants being somewhat below the general surface, they are not so subject to injury by alterpate freezing and thawing in winter; on the contrary, in the common way, the plants often stand on the very heights, where by a little freezing and thawing the roots are left naked,

XII. New mineral Manure for Clover. By Josiah Reeve, of Rancocas Creek, New Jersey. This manure is described by Mr. Reeve as a black sulphuric substance called by us marle;' and it is added that Dr. Seybert, having analysed the substance, found it to be a ferruginous clay. Nothing can be more vague than this description. From its effects being said to be greater than those of double the quantity of any other manure, the substance was well worth more attention; but how ferruginous clay, perhaps the most sterile of all soils, can become so productive a manure, we cau no more conceive, than how a chemical analysis can be said to have proved any substance to be a ferruginous clay, the only ne cessary apparatus for discovering which are eyes and fingers. We will not take this as a specimen of the state of agricul-, tural chemistry in the United States.

XII. Expenses and Profits of a Dairy. By Algernon Roberts. XIV. Account of the Produce of Wheat and Rye, during 16 Years in lower Merion Township, Philadelphia County. By the same. XV. On live Fences. By John Taylor, of Port Royal, Caroline County, Virginia. Cedar appears to have been employed by Mr. Taylor for this purpose, and to form strong, durable, and handsome fences. XVI. Account of a new Pummice Press, with some Remarks upon Cyder making. By Timothy Matlack of Lancaster. This press, of which a wood cut is given, acts by double levers, both downwards and upwards at the same time, with a pressure from a weight of one hundred pounds, equal to 5,000 pounds. It appears to be simple in its construction, easy in its management, and effici ent in its operation; but being manifestly inferior to the screw-press, its chief recommendation, which indeed is not a slight one in the interior parts of America, is that any farmer who can handle a saw, an axe, and an augur, can readily make the whole.'

XVII. On the injurious Effects of Clover to Orchards. By Richard Peters. XVIII. New Disease in Wheat. Sundry Communications. XIX. Improved, Hay-ladders. By Moses Coates, near Downing Town.-XX. On Sheep and their Dis eases. By Joseph Capner of Flemington, New Jersey. These four papers are wholly unimportant, and strictly local.

XXI. On Jerusalem Wheat. By Dr. John Keemle. This new species of grain, appears to be hardier and more produc tive than the common wheat. We do not recollect to have elsewhere seen the incident, to which Jerusalem wbeat is said to have owed its introduction into Ireland. It appears that a servant of that eccentric character, the late Mr.Whaley, who, for a wager, undertook to walk to Palestine, brought back with him a small sheaf of wheat, and fixed it up as a sign to an ale

house which he kept for some years after in Dublin. In time it was blown down, and a farmer, who accidentally passed, perceiving a few heads among the straw, picked and plantedthem. He continued to propagate it until he had several acres of it sown, when he sold the seed at the immense price of ten guineas the stone.

XXII. On the yellow Water of Horses. By Richard Peters.' This is mostly a detail of experiments made upon four horses of Mr. Peters's, attacked by this disorder, one only of which survived both the distemper and the experiments, and of this one it is candidly stated that he had so many medicines administered, and so many external applications were used, that I do not pretend to say what, specifically, performed the

cure.'

XXIII. On Gypsum. By Richard Peters. This substance, the contested reputation of which has in this country settled into a medium opinion, between the extravagant notions entertained at its first introduction, and the determined opposition of prejudice against its use, was chiefly brought into extensive notice by Mr. Peters, whose opinion of it may be collected from the following passage.

Thirty-seven years have now (1807) elapsed, since my first acquaintance with the gypsum; and its agricultural uses and properties. During the whole of that period (saving an interval occasioned by the war) have unremittingly continued the free and extensive use of that substance; and have not, in a single instance, had occasion to repent, that I had used or recommended it.?

Gypsum, it appears, was first applied as a manure in America, in consequence of a communication from Germany in a letter to a Mr. Jacob Barge, from one who had gone over from Pennsylvania to Germany for redemptioners. The writer sent over a specimen of the gypsum, and desired Mr. Barge to seek for land in which it could be found; it was also stated

that the discovery was then of no long standing in Germany; and that it had been accidentally made by a labourer, employed in mixing stucco mortar, at a large building. He saw that the path used, or made by him, in going from his work to his cottage, threw up a luxuriant crop of clover in the succeeding season, when all other parts of the field exhibited sterility. He attributed this extraordinary vegetation to the dust flying off his clothes; and, in consequence of this idea, he strewed offals of the gypsum near his cottage. The effects of it astonished every spectator, and he received from the edelman, or landlord, a reward for divulging the secret.'

Mr. Barge communicated the letter to Mr. Peters, who ob tained a bushel of gypsum from a burr-mill-stone maker, which enabled him to begin his agricultural experiments. A